My Little Sister Was A Dreamer And An Artist Before Cancer Took Her

My 17-year-old sister, Nowshin was a dreamer. While I always have focused on getting a decent job, she has always wanted to fill colours in the wings of butterflies. For the past six months, she has hardly painted. All she asks me in the hospital room is that if she will be able to live.

Our family of 4, includes my parents, my little sister Nowshin, and I. In spite of poverty we have been happy. We have lived in Khulna district of Bangladesh and never needed to travel outside.

Things got delayed because the ailment couldn’t be confirmed

My father sells fish for a living. He has struggled all his life to give the two of us a good education. Things were going fine for us, until one day Nowshin had very high fever. We didn’t think too much about it. It was just fever. But what alarmed us was when her cough carried blood.

Without further delay, we took her to the doctors near our home. Although they suspected leukemia, doctors there couldn’t confirm it. They also did a bone marrow test on her, which couldn’t confirm her ailment either.

Our close relatives recommended us to take her to India for further treatment. At that point in time, I could think of nothing else but save my sister at any cost. I had no time to worry about the costs of the treatment. I just knew I couldn’t lose her.

After coming to India, tests were carried out on her again and the reports revealed that she had acute lymbhoblastic leukaemia, an aggressive blood cancer. I couldn’t feel the ground under my feet.

So many problems had to be dealt in the same time

Just a few days prior to coming to India, I had finally got a good job. When I learnt that Nowshin needed a lot of care - I had to reject the job. I had to be with my sister.

My parents can’t speak Hindi and English. There was no point in bringing them here in India. I had to stay with my sister in India. In the early days, when Nowshin was just admitted to the hospital, my parents were gathering funds back home. They were going around collecting funds from all possible sources. My parents actually carried a box to my sister’s school, to all other schools and to strangers. A few of our kind relatives stood by us in the difficult times. Some of my friends also helped us.

My sister wants to grow up and become a computer science engineer. But now before fixing computers, she wants to know if her pain can be fixed. We have never thought of staying away from each other all our lives. It’s so difficult for me to see my sister in so much pain. I wish I could take away all her pain.

Nowshin’s blood cancer has made her very weak. Once she loved studying and now she can’t even keep looking at her books for a long time. She doesn’t eat or talk to anyone. She likes to stay alone. Earlier, she used to stand in front of the mirror for hours and now she hates looking at one. She cries if she accidentally looks at it.

Timely treatment has saved my sister till now

Before this, we had never been to India. We had no clue how things in the new country would be like. But we cannot thank enough to the doctors here. The bone marrow test that had been carried on my sister was done wrongfully. Had the doctors not treated her on time she could have been paralysed. The best thing about the doctors here is that they don’t refuse to treat a patient just because they don’t have enough money. Had I not come here to start her treatment, my sister would have died by now.

My sister has already gone through 2 cycles of chemotherapy in the past 6 months. Her body is very weak now. There is a long way to go and I will not let my sister fail. She is a champion and I will go to any extent to save her.

How you can help

We have already spent almost Rs 5 lakhs in the past six months. Neither my parents nor I have any money left to save her. My parents are still trying to arrange funds from our relatives, but now there is denial everywhere. There are still 3 more rounds of chemotherapy which will help her live. The cost of chemotherapy will cost us Rs 4 lakhs. We cannot manage this on our own. If kindhearted individuals like you can help us, we will be able to save out Nowshin.

You can also do a bank transfer to the below mentioned account setup for this fundraising campaign:

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26th July 2018

Dear SupportersI thank each one of you for your valuable contributions towards the treatment of Ms Nowshin. Today she is planned to get discharged and will come for follow up visits. She is recovering well.

We could not have done this without your support.

Thanks and RegardsDr Marie

17th April 2018

Dear Supporters,

Thank you for your love and support. We've been able to come a long way because of you all.

Nowshin is currently undergoing chemotherapy. Three cycles have already gotten over and two more are left now. 15 days post the completion of chemotherapy, she will undergo radiation treatment. So, all in all, a total of about 4 more months of treatment is remaining.

It is heartening to see her recovering and responding to the treatment well. Initially the cancer was spread about 68% and now, it's come down to 0%.

We all are really hoping for her speedy recovery. It's difficult to see my little sister suffer so much. Please keep supporting us. We shall keep you posted.